Complete HarpWeek Explanation:During the Civil War, Confederate General Robert E. Lee's second attempted
invasion of the North culminated in the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863,
when Confederate and Union troops fought on the fields outside Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania. On July 4, Lee and his men were finally forced to retreat back to
Confederate territory in Virginia. The Union victory at Gettysburg, along with
the simultaneous surrender of the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg,
Mississippi, to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, is considered one of the major
turning points of the Civil War. General Winfield Hancock commanded the Union
Army Second Corps at the Battle of Gettysburg.

On the first day of the battle, after Lee's troops drove the Union soldiers to
Cemetery Hill, Hancock and General Oliver Howard rallied Union forces, sending
some to occupy Culp's Hill. On the second day, Hancock and General George Sykes
successfully defended Cementery Ridge against Confederate attacks. On the third
and final day, Hancock was among the Union military leadership who stood firm at
Cemetery Ridge, repelling the famous Pickett's charge by Confederate troops.
General Hancock was severely wounded in the action. For his brave service to the
Union, Hancock received the official Thanks of Congress.

At first glance, this double-page Harper's Weekly cartoon by Thomas Nast pays
homage to Hancock's heroics during the Battle of Gettysburg. The artist places
the 1880 Democratic presidential nominee before rows of the graves of
Confederate soldiers who died because of his military leadership for the Union
cause. On closer inspection, though, it is a harsh, discourteous condemnation of
Hancock's association with the Democratic party. Cartoonist Thomas Nast, in line
with the general policy of Harper's Weekly, persistently "waved the bloody
shirt" by portraying Democrats as Confederate sympathizers. Here, the dead
Confederate soldiers at Gettysburg are Democrats who are unable to cast their
ballots for Hancock, as their surviving Confederate counterparts in the
Democratic party will. Nast's message, in fact, comes close to accusing Hancock
of treason.

(Note that the phrase "silent majority," used by President Richard
Nixon in 1969 to designate middle-class Americans who support his policy in
Vietnam, was already in use in the 19th century.)